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Opinion: how fresh produce became ‘cool’

March 12th, 2012 admin

The produce industry is one of the most mysterious and puzzling sectors to outsiders. “I happened to to fall into it,” is the most frequent response in conversations with other individuals employed in produce. We operate like most companies in corporate America with positions from sales to quality control headed by a CEO and board members. Although, this is not too different from the previous industry that I came from – the airline industry also insulated with its own language and lifestyle.The biggest difference between the produce world is that we come from very diverse backgrounds. We may have begun as an accountant or lawyer and somehow got a taste of the business, only to remain. This is one of the few industries where people choose to stay due to the passion of the industry. We have an immense global supply chain from the grower to the end consumer. With the proliferation of organics, buy local, food blogs and certainly social media, suddenly produce industry has a “cool” factor.

This is the fourth of a monthly series in which the BerryBroad is writing for Fresh Fruit Portal as Contributing Produce Correspondent. To read the rest of this article, please click here.